Animation Competition Jan 1 - 12 2007 -WINNERS ANNOUNCED

[Baron]

Once upon a time.....
         .....a herald rode to the top of the highest hill in the land and announced an animation competition:
                   -"A sprite has been suplied, with a theme!"  he cried.
                   -"All participants must use the given sprite for their animation!" he continued.
                   -"The competition shall last 11 days," he went on, "And thus it shall conclude this time on the twelf!"
                   -"The starter of this competition shall decide the winner!"
                   -"The winner shall host the next competition, supplying both a sprite and theme!"
           The herald then wandered down to the pub and lived happily ever after.  Until close, that is, but that is another tale entirely.....

The theme of this competition is Fairy Tale.  You must tell me a story -however briefly- using at least two of these medievalish sprites:                   
                                                             
    The story can be a rescue, a fight, a short incident of slapstick, whatever.  Feel free to use extra sprites of your own creation and to shade/colour the ones provided to your taste.  Be bold!  Be daring!  And for heaven's sake be quick about it, you've only got eleven days left!


EDIT: Hey Neelhound, check your personal messages.

[neelhound]

Hey could you please tell me a new animation maker that is better than unfreez plz because id like one that allows transparency and smoother movement like yours.

[Darth Mandarb]

www.google.com

[R4L]

Or you could buy photoshop. 

[Damien]

If you want to make transparent animations with UnFreez you first have to save your frames as transparent .gif images.

As for the smoother movements, that depends on you. You will need to draw more frames for that.


Sorry for going OT.

[Da_Elf]

ok. kinda cheesy and no conclusive ending but here ya go.

[Postmodern_Boy]

I bring you the epic of a princess who is driven by revenge and a dragon that plays to many video games.

It even has a title screen so you can tell when it loops.





and yes, I was drinking when I made this.....so what? 

[neelhound]

I went wrong and the ground looks like its moving...ignore that. :o
But its better than my old entries coz it flows a bit better-but it cant beat the other entries just yet!

[theatrx]

I really tried to work on this but 'real' work has gotten the upper hand.Ã,  Here's my entry.

[monsoon]

My very first animation... you were warned.

[Illustrious]

If at all possible may this competition be judged on the 15th because I havnt had time to finish my animation. I know it is cheeky to ask and may be against the rules, but if I dont ask I wont get. If not, I will post my anim after it has ended. (I dont expect any special treatment, but I have seen competitions kept open for a bit longer) Thankyou

[Baron]

I'm always interested in more entries!  However, three days is a pretty long time....  and the fifteenth is on a Monday -do you really intend to work on it on a Monday?  I'll give you the weekend and judge the competition Sunday night (January 14, Eastern Standard Time, which will already be the fifteenth in most of the world anyway). 

[Da_Elf]

mine was done in about 10 minutes. but then again mine isnt too good hehehe

[neelhound]

EXCACTLY! Da elf says his was done in ten minutes! How could you draw so many frames flowing like that in ten minutes? Well I cant do that because in paint it just doesnt work. Do you have some special digital animating agent or something?

[Da_Elf]

animation is part of my profession afterall. I did mine in aftereffects. would have done it in animo (my 2d animation software) however that takes a bit longer on the preperation side

[Steel Drummer]

EXCACTLY! Da elf says his was done in ten minutes! How could you draw so many frames flowing like that in ten minutes? Well I cant do that because in paint it just doesnt work. Do you have some special digital animating agent or something?

I animate in paint and it turns out good. It all depends on how good an artist you are.

[neelhound]

EXCACTLY! Da elf says his was done in ten minutes! How could you draw so many frames flowing like that in ten minutes? Well I cant do that because in paint it just doesnt work. Do you have some special digital animating agent or something?

I animate in paint and it turns out good. It all depends on how good an artist you are.

i don't take offence, but art isn't just drawing pictures. And what I meant was that I have heard of animators where drawing every single frame is not required, you create characters then put bones in them and make them move smoothly. I dont have a 2d animator like that, so I asked.

[Da_Elf]

yup.its kinda the same principle behind 3d animation where your models have bones in it. The other thing is to play with frame rates or to use loops or holds. naturally anime uses every trick there is to get out of having to draw too many frames. even film runs at 24fps and one of the few companies who actually animated at 24fps was disney. WB animated at 12fps. for the film im working on even though its going to dvd which most people who do video would think i need to do stuff at 30 fps for ntsc however im animating my film at 24fps (film style) since a: DVDs can take film format and b: it saves me having to render 6 extra frames and at 30 minutes - 3 hours a frame im enjoying the frame saving im doing

[Illustrious]

Hello everyone , I am glad you have given me the opportunity and extended the deadline, I didnt want to let myself be seen as a time waster and given the Sunday night deadline I have worked extensively on this piece. However...Ã,  I was not successful in completing it in within the deadline . I quickly realised I wouldnt have the time whilst drawing the first background out of the three I had storey boarded.
Anyway, this is my first ever animation so I have learnt one hell of a lot whilst doing this (in ImageReady).Ã,  Next time I will be working on a piece soon as the comp starts (if the subject inspires me )Ã,  I think the subject matter and the sprites were fantastic for this comp. Great entries also!
I will apologise for delaying the decision for the real entries but I would like to ask for this thread to stay open for me to post my finished entry once I have completed it, or I can simply post it in the critics lounge for you to view.
Here's where I got to (the start screen was something just rushed on for posting, so there is a lack of style there) I'm a perfectionist and hate to see little things wrong with my animation but enough of that, I think you can see where I'm going with this..... Thankyou


[edit][should have looped the main one sorry ]

[Baron]

And the Winner is.....

     When I asked for a story, I expected some sword play, maybe a princess waving her hands.  What I got was simply phenomenal!  I am amazed at everyone's contribution: pat yourselves on the back.  I know, I know.... patting yourself on the back just isn't the same.  So:  Illustrious, you pat Neelhound; Da_Elf can pat Theatrx; Monsoon gets to pat Postmodern Boy; Neelhound, please pat Da_Elf; Postmodern Boy will pat Illustrious, and  Theatrx can pat Monsoon.  Yay for everybody!  As usual, it was very difficult to choose a winner.

    Without further ado, the awards ceremony:
  The Golden Dragon goes to Postmodern Boy because his animation makes me laugh out loud everytime I see it.
The Silver Dragon goes to Da_Elf for an amusing twist to a familiar story: love that surprise ending!
The Bronze Dragon goes to Monsoon for an unexpected twist in a fairy-tale book format.   Realistically moving clouds (blowing the right way!), flag and characters (the rider bounces and the dragon floats) were also plusses.

But let's not forget our other entrants:
The Wooden Dragon goes to Neelhound, Theatrx and Illustrious for valiant efforts across the board.  Please don't consider it an insult that it's made of wood -I needed something worth less than bronze, but you all deserve commemoration for your efforts.
      Theatrx:  Funny!  Not a classy kind of funny, but I appreciated it.
      Neelhound: Your animation is definitely coming along: keep it up!
      Illustrious: I hope to see more of your work in future rounds -remember to start earlier!  The competition threads are usually locked pretty quickly after a competition ends, but I encourage you to post your animation in the Critics Lounge after you've finished it.

And now I turn the competition over to Postmodern Boy for another sprite and another theme!